On Sept. 18, Mt. Hebron got a surprise visit from Howard County Public School System Superintendent, Dr. Michael Martirano. During his trip to Mt. Hebron, Dr. Martirano gave insights on his upcoming projects and explained his moral purpose to the work he does.

“I’m in charge of a school system with close to a billion dollar budget of taxpayer dollars, 12,000 full- and part-time employees and 58,000 students, so that’s a lot of responsibility for the well-being and education of all of you, but I love the work,” said Dr. Martirano.

While at Mt. Hebron, Dr. Martirano visited several classes in various subjects, including ESOL, reading, engineering, art, independent research and intern mentor and shared his moral purpose.

He described his moral purpose as one of “leadership, doing right by other people, doing right by individuals that are less fortunate, and providing opportunities for all kids, so it’s an agenda of equity,” he said.

During his visit to Mr. Mike Gorleski’s engineering class, Dr. Martirano took time for the students to share ideas that they had for innovating the future. A few of the ideas included more efficient kitchen appliances and faster modes of transportation. He challenged the students to go out into the world to innovate and create everything they could imagine and encouraged them to be the future of America.

In Ms. MaryKate Hannah’s art class, Dr. Martirano walked around to look at all of the students’ projects and talked to students one-on-one about their creative passions as well as what projects they were excited to work on as the year progressed.

While talking to Dr. Melissa Kiehl’s interns and independent research students, Dr. Martirano talked to the students about their projects and research thus far. The students told him about their various internships and research projects, including internships at hospitals, research about betterment of mental health in teens and the purpose of art therapy. He encouraged the students to pursue their interests and told them he was excited to see all of the progress they made throughout their internships and research processes.

When Dr. Martirano visited Ms. Charity Durham’s ESOL class, he took particular interest in where they are from. He wanted to know each and every student’s name, home country and what they have learned so far. He told them how happy he was to have them at the school and how important their individual education was to him.

“No matter who the child is, or where they are from, everyone receives an equal education,” he said.

Dr. Martirano wants every student to have the same opportunities to be able to succeed and to have the staff highly qualified so that students are able to do so. He will also be looking at suspension records to make sure students are not missing too much school.

“My desired outcome is that by the end of the year every student has achieved at the highest level, that every senior graduates from high school,” he said.

Dr. Martirano said he always has the best in mind for the students in the Howard County Public School System. He will be making changes this coming year, including updating security and having the best resources for kids who are in need to result in the best outcome possible.